Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1123 words)

Biography

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 and died on 5 December 1791. His biography is very interesting. Mozart’s full name is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He was a very talented and influential composer of the classical era.

Mozart was born in Salzburg; he showed enormous abilities and talent as a child. At the age of five, he composed his first symphony.

At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the place where was Mozart born, in Salzburg. But that place was very narrow and close to him, he wanted something more, to find himself somewhere else. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he composed many of his most famous works, most famous symphony, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem.

He was and still is a very famous composer and personality. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: “humanity will not see such a talent again in 100 years”.

Talking about his marriage will be very curious. Mozart’s interest shifted to the third Weber’s daughter, Constanze. Their relationships did not go smoothly; once they even broke up in April 1782. The couple was finally married on 4 August 1782 in St. Stephen’s Cathedral. You can see a picture of his wife here too. The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy as living in that period was very hard ( all those illnesses were too strong).

Interesting facts about Mozart

Now let’s move to interesting facts about the hero of this article.

1. Mozart hung out with young Marie Antoinette. Being six years old Mozart and his family were performing at royal courts. When he was performing his piece by himself and finished, he slipped on a polished floor at the Habsburg summer residence outside Vienna. There Marie occurred and gave her hand to him. In his return, Mozart asked future queen of France to marry him. But as she was older than she on two months, no one thought it was serious. And it wasn’t.

2. He wanted his children no to be breastfed. He wrote that yet he was equally determined that his child would never take the milk. He wanted the child to be brought up on water, like his sister and himself.” Unfortunately, only two of Mozart’s six children survived infancy.
3. When he was 11, he wrote his first opera. Mozart had concerts almost everywhere—Paris, London, Amsterdam, Versailles. In other words, he was in all the places his family was invited to play. When he was in Paris, he was eight years old; he published his first piece of music: a violin sonata in five parts. And I will repeat – he was only 8.
4. When he was 11, he wrote his first true opera called “Apollo et Hyacinthus.” After that, a series of tours began in Italy, and everyone said he had a preternatural talent. We can sum up that he study music very fast.
5. Probably he was poisoned – the reason for his death.

When did Mozart die? He died when was 35 years old, on December 5, 1791. Results of the coroner were simple—“severe military fever.” Nevertheless, people like to make rumors for all the times. They thought that Antonio Salieri ( he was a very influential composer and opponent of Mozart), poisoned Mozart to get more and more popularity. It sounds strange as Antonio had the same popularity as Mozart, he even taught Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Liszt. Maybe, people were so sad of sudden death that didn’t find any other thing then to make rumors. And it seems like the real reason of death was a real fatal strep infection.

Music made by Mozart

Mozart also wrote many pieces for solo piano, other forms of chamber music, masses and other religious music, and numerous dances, divertimentos, and other forms of light entertainment. Here you can also see his sign. Below you will see a lot of examples of Mozart songs: classical music, compositions, famous Mozart pieces and other works

Symphonies

He produces symphonies for 24 years, dates starting from 1764 up to 1788. According to several investigations, he wrote more than 41 symphonies ( up to 68). Let’s see how the period of his work is divided.

1. Childhood symphonies (1764–1771)
2. Salzburg-era symphonies (1771–1777)
3. Late symphonies (1778–1788)

These symphonies are sometimes subcategorized as “Early” (1771–1773) and “Late” (1773–1777), and sometimes subcategorized as “Germanic” (with minute) or “Italian” (without minute). None of these were printed during Mozart’s lifetime.

The three final symphonies (Nos. 39–41) were completed in about three months in 1788.  By the way, his best symphony was written exactly in the last period. They are symphonies No.35,38,40,41.

Concertos

All his concertos for orchestra and piano were numbered from 1 to 27. Mozart’s concertos for piano and orchestra are numbered from 1 to 27. The first four numbered concertos are early works.

1. Violin concertos. They were written in native town, Salzburg, around 1775.
2. Horn Concertos
3. Woodwind Concertos

Piano music

All his early periods are connected to the piano. Also, it is known that almost everything he wrote was written by himself, and for him. Nonetheless, there are several pieces written to play four hands – and he did it with his sister. All examples of his earliest works are those found in Nannerl’s Music Book. Between 1782 and 1786 he wrote 20 works for piano solo.

1. Solo piano works
2. Two Pianos
3. Dual piano/performer works
4. Piano four-hands (written for him and his sister)

Here we add also a list of works written for a piano:

• Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448/375a
• Fugue in C minor for Two Keyboards, K. 426
• Larghetto and Allegretto for Two Pianos in E♭ major, K. deest

Chamber music

He wrote not only for piano but for violin too. During the next years the role of violin in Mozart’s performances changed, and from a supportive instrument, it changed into a completely solo instrument, with which he wanted to make more and more things.

Serenades, divertimenti, and other instrumental works

The production for instrumental ensembles includes several divertimenti, cassations, notturni, serenades, marches, and dances, a quodlibet, besides, of course, his symphonies. Mozart’s production for orchestra is written for string ensembles, as well as for wind instruments ensembles and the varied combinations of string and wind.

Church sonatas

Here you can also see a short list of church sonatas which he wrote especially for priests to make the atmosphere magnificent.

• Church Sonata No. 1 in E♭, K. 67/41h (1772)
• Church Sonata No. 2 in B♭, K. 68/41i (1772)
• Church Sonata No. 3 in D, K. 69/41k (1772)
• Church Sonata No. 4 in D, K. 144/124a (1772)
• Church Sonata No. 5 in F, K. 145/124b (1772)….etc.

There are also a lot of other examples of Mozart’s works, and after reading everything, discovering his life, seeing photos of his birthplace, we can’t stand without saying that this person is genius.